§ Mr. ForthTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research his Department has(a) undertaken and (b) commissioned in the past year into crime among ethnic minorities; and when the results of any such research will be made available to the public. [68111]
§ Mr. Straw[holding answer 28 January 1999]: Since 1 January 1998, the Home Office has undertaken or commissioned a number of pieces of research which have included consideration of issues of ethnicity in the criminal justice system, patterns of offending between different ethnic groups, patterns of ethnic minority victimisation, and the operation of the criminal justice system in relation to ethnic minorities as suspects, offenders and victims of crime.
All commissioned research is published as a matter of course. I have strengthened the procedures for securing the integrity of regular statistical services by ensuring that they are published by the Director of the Research and Statistical Directorate and not Ministers, and on dates set well in advance.
I receive regular advice from my officials in the form of submissions and briefing papers about the research and statistical data available in the Department.
The current list, with dates of publication in brackets, is as follows:
Tackling Street Robbery: a Comparative Evaluation of Operation Eagle EyeStockdale J. E. and Gresham P. J.PRG Crime Detection and Prevention Series 1998 (March 1998)Ethnicity and Victimisation: findings from the 1996 British Crime SurveyHome Office Statistical Bulletin 6/98 (April 1998)Sentencing Practice: an examination of decisions in magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in the mid-1990sFlood-Page C and Mackie AHome Office Research Study 180 (July 1998)555WPrison Statistics, England and Wales (July 1998)Entry into the criminal justice system: a survey of police arrests and their outcomePhillips C and Brown DHome Office and Research Study 185 (August 1998)Probation Statistics, England and Wales (October 1998)Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice SystemPublished under section 95 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 (December 1998)Young Offenders from Different Ethnic GroupsMiller JHome Office, Research, Development and Statistics Directorate (Spring 1999)Evaluation of the Racially Aggravated Offences in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998Fitzgerald MHome Office, Research, Development and Statistics Directorate (Spring 2001)and, possibly:
1998 Youth Lifestyles SurveyFlood-Page CHome Office, Research, Development and Statistics Directorate (Spring 2000),which is expected to provide information on many aspects of young people's lifestyles including fear of crime, victimisation and self-reported offending.